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The tokens were then progressively replaced by flat tablets, on which signs were recorded with a stylus. Actual writing is first recorded in Uruk (modern Iraq), at the end of the 4th millennium BCE, and soon after in various parts of the Near East. [30] An ancient Sumerian poem gives the first known story of the invention of writing:
The following is a list of the world's oldest surviving physical documents. Each entry is the most ancient of each language or civilization. For example, the Narmer Palette may be the most ancient from Egypt, but there are many other surviving written documents from Egypt later than the Narmer Palette but still more ancient than the Missal of Silos.
Cuneiform scripts are marked by and named for the characteristic wedge-shaped impressions (Latin: cuneus) which form their signs. Cuneiform is the earliest known writing system [6] [7] and was originally developed to write the Sumerian language of southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).
The earliest forms of writing were etched on stone slabs, transitioning to palm leaves and papyrus in ancient times. Parchment and paper later emerged as important substrates for bookmaking, introducing greater durability and accessibility. Across regions like China, the Middle East, Europe, and South Asia, diverse methods of book production ...
Papyrus (P. BM EA 10591 recto column IX, beginning of lines 13–17) Papyrus (/ p ə ˈ p aɪ r ə s / pə-PY-rəs) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface.
Scholars mark the difference between prehistory and history with the invention of the first written language. [14] The first writing can be dated back to the Neolithic era, with clay tablets being used to keep track of livestock and commodities. The first example of written language can be dated to Uruk, at the end of the 4th millennium BCE. [15]
The proto-cuneiform script was a system of proto-writing that emerged in Mesopotamia, eventually developing into the early cuneiform script used in the region's Early Dynastic I period. It arose from the token-based system that had already been in use across the region in preceding millennia.
A writing material, also called a writing medium, is a surface that can be written on with suitable instruments, or used for symbolic or representational drawings. Building materials on which writings or drawings are produced are not included.